Darksiders Genesis

Played from a top-down perspective, the game allows players to switch between Strife and War at any time. Strife uses his pistols, Mercy and Redemption while War uses his sword, Chaos Eater. Alternatively, two players can play the game in a co-op mode with each player taking the role of one of the characters. Once the player has killed enough enemies, they are allowed to use burst abilities which allow them to take down enemies quicker.

The game currency is souls which can be earned by killing enemies that will spawn before the player. Platforming elements similar to previous games make a return and certain gameplay mechanics such as bombs are present too.

After the Four Horsemen have attacked and decimated the Nephilim in Eden, they are summoned by the Charred Council. The Council suspects that the demon king Lucifer is planning something with Samael to upset the Balance and orders War and Strife to investigate. After invading Samael's keep, they find it under attack from another Master of Hell, albeit a lesser one: Moloch. Samael informs them that he is not in league with Lucifer and the current attack on him is the result of that. Before he can say anything else, Moloch attacks and Samael teleports the Horsemen to the Void to find and talk to his associate.

The Horsemen travel through the Void and find Vulgrim to be the associate Samael spoke of. Vulgrim informs them that he can help track down Lucifer but he needs several artifacts. After collecting the required artifacts Vulgrim informs them that Lucifer has paid a visit to Mammon, another Master of Hell. Samael arrives at this point and suggests that the Horsemen find Mammon and make him talk about Lucifer.

The game was revealed by publisher THQ Nordic in the run-up to E3 2019 at 6 June. Unlike Darksiders III, Genesis is developed by Airship Syndicate, who previously developed Battle Chasers: Nightwar. This studio consists of developers of the defunct Vigil Games, who developed the first two Darksiders titles. Genesis is a spin-off title, whereas unlike its main series games, it takes on a top-down perspective and is more of a looter game, compared to games like Diablo.

Darksiders Genesis received generally positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PC version 77/100, the PlayStation 4 version 78/100 and the Xbox One version 77/100. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 74% of critics.

IGN gave it a score of 8.7 out of 10, stating that "Darksiders Genesis may lack the polish and flair of its numbered brethren, but make no mistake: this is still a Darksiders game, and it's one of the best. There's a really strong balance of great combat, clever puzzles, rich exploration, and excellent progression mechanics that keep its momentum going strong through its entire 15-hour run time". Furthermore, Cian Maher of GameSpot gave the game 7 out of 10, praising the combat, art and writing, while criticizing the overhead camera.